1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a job controller to which multiple image forming apparatuses are connected, and particularly to a job division apparatus configured to appropriately divide a print job for each image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
There exists an image forming system which includes: a terminal configured to generate a print job; and an image forming apparatus connected to this terminal through a network, and configured to carry out various processes on the basis of the print job transmitted from the terminal.
This image forming apparatus includes: a printing section configured to carry out a printing process on the basis of the print job; and a post-processing section connected to this printing section, and configured to carry out post-processes such as an enclosing/sealing process. In some cases, the image forming system includes multiple image forming apparatuses which are connected to the terminal through the network.
In some cases of the image forming system including the multiple image forming apparatuses, the print job is divided so that the divided parts of the print job are processed by the respective multiple image forming apparatuses, for the purpose of dispersing the load.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-26863 has proposed an information processor in which: font resource information is acquired from a printer connected to a network; on the basis of the acquired font resource information, candidate printing apparatuses are determined for print information to be printed with specified fonts; and on the basis of the number of candidate printing apparatuses thus determined, a LAN controller distributes and transfers equal numbers of pages into which the print information is divided to the determined candidate printing apparatuses.